When Lindin was 11, she was branded a "slut" by her classmates and was bullied at school, after school and online. During all this, she kept a regular diary. Now a Harvard graduate pursuing her Ph.D. in California, Emily started The UnSlut Project by blogging her own middle school diaries.

I am asking every girl, but also every boy, to stop standing by while this word continues to be hurled around. Instead, we should stand up and put an end to slut-shaming. My generation should be striving towards equality, and this topic simply can't be walked out on.

Study after study confirms that women backstab, undermine and put down one another -- at work, in the PTA, out for drinks -- basically taking every chance they can to act out the movie Mean Girls long past high school.

It's that magical time of year when the wee folk of Capitol Hill actually get something done. These brief bursts of activity only happen very rarely, of course, and always immediately proceed another one of the many, many long vacations Congress takes during the year.

As adults, we know that there's a line. It is our responsibility to respect it and not cross it. I may have been more mature than the average teenage girl, but there were endless intricacies to which I was innocent.

I spent my 20's making no apologies for my overt sexuality. After all, if straight guys could construct their entire social lives around the hunt for tail, then why couldn't I? Especially since I was so good at it...

Although we can't diminish the need to continue to discuss youth bullying and cyberbullying, we also need to recognize the need to open up a dialogue about adults who are bullies and those who are targets of their online cruelty.

As children, Halloween was a night of simple joy. It was a damn great holiday. You donned whatever costume you felt like a boss in and without second-guessing it, went out and ended the night with a pillowcase full of candy. You were #FLAWLESS before Beyoncé made it a thing.

There is one bit of language in a recent Jennifer Lawrence interview that courts a perception that is still, I believe, a problem worth pointing out. It is a problem I've seen in my own personal life, and a problem I've seen in culture at large.

Despite the sexual liberation movement, despite shows like Sex and the City, despite all the progress we've made, we're still saddled with a word rooted in "prostitute" and "harlot" to describe being sexually free.

We can start with our own spheres of influence, whether at work, at school or among friends. How will you start the conversation among your friends? What strategies will you use to point out slut-shaming when you see it?

The way most of us talk about sex is rather messed up if you take a step back and let it all marinate in your mind for a minute. We speak about sex like it's some consumptive act -- like we're getting frozen yogurt or something.

These women have have lives. Have bodies. Have sex. Take pictures. Trust people. I am sorry their privacy was violated, but I am not surprised that under their clothes and professional demeanors, they're simply human beings who like to have sex as much as the next person.

It's time for women to stop judging each other and discriminating based on an aspect of our lives that is supposed to be private. We live in the 21st century, and if boys get to high-five each other over beer and pizza about their sexual adventures, why can't women do the same thing?